Paul Slack was already doing friends' taxes while he was in corporate, and it just grew by word of mouth until it got to a point where he had to decide, formal work or work for himself. Fasttrac Freelance Business Specialists took off in such a way that he never looked back.
What exactly do you do, Paul?
We do full accounting, financial statements, tax returns, full-on tax consulting - we get quite a few overseas people, wanting tax advice when they come in, what to do with their taxes and so.
Beyond that, I do quite a few other things myself, I sit on pension funds, I deal with deceased estates, advise in that area as well. I don’t do investment advice, I am not licensed.
How did you learn about Procompare?
I was approached directly. Somebody obviously trawled through the internet, found my website, got a hold of me. I found it interesting.
I’ve got a fairly large and successful practice, but you’re always looking for more, so when I got the call, I thought: "Well, let’s give it a shot!"
What attracted me is that I could get out at any stage if it wasn’t working for me. The fact is, I am still in.
How well has Procompare been working for you?
I measure it by, "Am I covering my monthly cost to Procompare?", and I am more than 10 times over! I’m more than happy with that.
I am investing R1608 a month. I remember the figure very well because it comes from my bank account every month, so around R19000 a year.
And my return on investment, as I said, is between 7 and 10 times a year.
It's the second- and third-tier referrals that really count.
It’s not so much about getting the contact of Procompare - it is, we like that - but when they refer us, second-, third-, fourth-tier referrals, that's what counts for us.
Who was the best client you got through Procompare?
I am not going to mention any names, but we got one, the wording was "I need some help with my taxes". We approached them and said: "Yes, of course, we can help."
You could feel there was a bit of a reticence. I think they’ve been burned before.
We got the business, him, his wife, the family trust, his mother-in-law, and from the mother-in-law we got another company and two trusts.
Once we got over that initial hurdle of their reluctance, we ended up getting the business, him, his wife, the family trust, his mother-in-law, and from the mother-in-law we got another company and two trusts.
So, that's what I talk about with second- and third-tier referrals.
It’s not just about getting into Procompare and getting a client. If you treat that client well, it’s what happens beyond that, and there's a lot of that.
How do you approach clients you get through Procompare? What's the most important thing?
I think the immediacy of the response. The message comes through, I try to respond as soon as I see the message. They like that. It looks like you’re keen.
If you wait two, three, four days, you’ve probably missed the bus, because other accountants have also been referred.
If you wait two, three, four days, you’ve probably missed the bus.
It has happened to me on Procompare: because I was the first, the clients haven’t even bothered with the responses from other accountants.
But you don’t get them all. It’s like any form of marketing, X percent of it is successful.
But even if you can just start the conversation. It’s never dead. When you respond, it never dies.
Often what can happen is, they can go to another accountant, they’re not happy there, and they come back to you.
When you respond, it never dies.
So, that’s the other benefit. You’re out there, you’re putting your name with a whole bunch of people, and it never really dies.
Did you have any concerns about Procompare before joining?
Of course. The thing that helped me over that was the option of pulling out at any stage.
So, you weren’t paying an annual fee and then pulling out after two months and losing ten months of your fee. Which I think is a very big plus for Procompare.
Not everything works for everybody. So there’ll be some people out there for whom it doesn’t work. And the fact that they can pull out after a month, or two, or six, is good.
Do you use any other advertising channels?
I am on LinkedIn, but I don’t find anything coming through LinkedIn. I can’t say I’ve ever had a client come to me through LinkedIn. Otherwise, no, I am a bit of a dinosaur; I’m not very good at this social media thing.
Would you recommend Procompare to others?
I think it would be crazy not to. You know, if you’ve got a return on investment of 7 times your annual expense, I’m an accountant; that’s just, you know, it’s a no brainer.
I would be crazy not to recommend Procompare.
What are your plans for the future?
We will continue to grow. The biggest difficulty I have right now in my business is finding suitably qualified staff. It’s a real challenge.
We can’t find people with sufficient tax knowledge. So the future is to grow as much as possible, but we need staff.
And then one day I’m going to have to sell the business, because I’ll be carried off in a box. I’m not the retirement kind of a person. I don’t understand that concept. I’ll probably die on the job. Not because of the job, but in the job.
